Little Accidents 2014

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A promising feature-film debut by writer-director Sara Colangelo that never quite rises above its dreary blue-collar ambience but reluctantly holds interest throughout, like a foghorn searching through mist to find a ray of light. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: A sensitive and well-meaning but rather ordinary melodrama that wouldn't have seemed out of place as a network movie-of-the-week circa 1985. Read more

Keith Uhlich, AV Club: All of these characters are in pain, and Colangelo never lets the audience forget it, since she's directed everyone to wear similar brooding expressions and walk around as if this screwed-up world and its many adversities are a constant weight. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Nothing feels forced in this movie, which is testament to Colangelo's skill as well as the cast's. You believe the coal dust on these people; you grieve for their secrets. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: A small-town tragedy leads to moral crises on all sides in Sara Colangelo's Little Accidents, a sober drama that makes class central to the story without ever sounding like it has an agenda. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: To her credit, the writer-director tries for complexity. Now if she can just get the storytelling to match the quality of the filmmaking, I suspect there will be fewer little accidents. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: There's a quiet desperation to all the lives depicted in writer-director Sara Colangelo's assured indie about a West Virginia mining accident that upends everyone in town. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Owen tries with lurching uncertainty to ease back into normal, even as the writer and director Sara Colangelo clutters his path with enough obstacles to challenge the most heroically determined traveler. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Little Accidents paints a vivid portrait of a community facing an imminent existential crisis. Read more

David Ehrlich, Time Out: This is a bleak and bitter movie, but it knows the way forward, if not the quickest way to get there. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: All the secrets, lies, and consequences feel as authentic as the Appalachian milieu, but the film lacks the memorable idiosyncrasy of a River's Edge, or more fittingly, the myth-making lyricism of Matewan. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: "Little Accidents" is a serious movie, but, to its credit, it's never entirely bleak. Revealing the truth always remains an option, just waiting to set the characters free. Read more